MLA Formatting
How to format your paper General Guidelines
· Type your paper on a computer and print it out on standard, white 8.5 x 11-inch paper,
· Double-space the text of your paper, and use a legible font like Times New Roman or Courier.
· Leave only one space after periods or other punctuation marks (unless otherwise instructed by your instructor).
· Set the margins of your document to 1 inch on all sides. Indent the first line of a paragraph one half-inch (five spaces or press tab once) from the left margin.
· Create a header that numbers all pages consecutively in the upper right-hand corner, one-half inch from the top and flush with the right margin. (Note: Your instructor may ask that you omit the number on your first page. Always follow your instructor's guidelines.)
· Use either italics or underlining throughout your essay for the titles of longer works and, only when absolutely necessary, providing emphasis.
· If you have any endnotes, include them on a separate page before your Works Cited page.
Formatting the First Page of Your Paper
· Do not make a title page for your paper unless specifically requested.
· In the upper left-hand corner of the first page, list your name, your instructor's name, the course, and the date. Again, be sure to use double-spaced text.
· Double space again and center the title. Don't underline your title or put it in quotation marks; write the title in Title Case, not in all capital letters.
· Use quotation marks and underlining or italics when referring to other works in your title, just as you would in your text, e.g.,
o Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas as Morality Play
o Human Weariness in "After Apple Picking"
· Double space between the title and the first line of the text.
· Create a header in the upper right-hand corner that includes your last name, followed by a space with a page number; number all pages consecutively with Arabic numerals (1, 2, 3, 4, etc.), one-half inch from the top and flush with the right margin. (Note: Your instructor or other readers may ask that you omit last name/page number header on your first page. Always follow their guidelines.)
Here is a sample first page of an essay in MLA style:
Image Caption: A sample first page of an MLA-formatted paper.
Works Cited Page Books
First or single author's name is written last name, first name. The basic form for a book citation is:
Lastname, Firstname. Title of Book. Place of Publication: Publisher, Year of Publication.
Anthology or Collection
List by editor or editors, follwed by a comma and "ed." or, for mulitple editors, "eds."
Hill, Charles A. and Marguerite Helmers, eds. Defining Visual Rhetorics. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 2004.
Peterson, Nancy J., ed. Toni Morrison: Critical and Theoretical Approaches. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins UP, 1997.
A Multivolume Work
When citing only one volume of a multivolume work, include the volume number after the work's title, or after the work's editor or translator.
Quintilian. Institutio Oratoria. Trans. H. E. Butler. Vol. 2. Cambridge: Loeb-Harvard UP, 1980.
An Entire Web Site
Basic format: Name of Site. Date of Posting/Revision. Name of institution/organization affiliated with the site (sometimes found in copyright statements). Date you accessed the site <electronic address>.
A Page on a Web Site
For an individual page on a Web site, list the author or alias if known, followed by the information covered above for entire Web sites. Make sure the URL points to the exact page you are referring to, or the entry or home page for a collection of pages you're referring to:
"Caret." Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia. 28 April 2006. 10 May 2006 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caret>.
"How to Make Vegetarian Chili." eHow.com. 10 May 2006 <http://www.ehow.com/
how_10727_make-vegetarian-chili.html>.
Stolley, Karl. "MLA Formatting and Style Guide." The OWL at Purdue. 10 May 2006. Purdue University Writing Lab. 12 May 2006 <http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/557/01/>.
How to format your paper General Guidelines
· Type your paper on a computer and print it out on standard, white 8.5 x 11-inch paper,
· Double-space the text of your paper, and use a legible font like Times New Roman or Courier.
· Leave only one space after periods or other punctuation marks (unless otherwise instructed by your instructor).
· Set the margins of your document to 1 inch on all sides. Indent the first line of a paragraph one half-inch (five spaces or press tab once) from the left margin.
· Create a header that numbers all pages consecutively in the upper right-hand corner, one-half inch from the top and flush with the right margin. (Note: Your instructor may ask that you omit the number on your first page. Always follow your instructor's guidelines.)
· Use either italics or underlining throughout your essay for the titles of longer works and, only when absolutely necessary, providing emphasis.
· If you have any endnotes, include them on a separate page before your Works Cited page.
Formatting the First Page of Your Paper
· Do not make a title page for your paper unless specifically requested.
· In the upper left-hand corner of the first page, list your name, your instructor's name, the course, and the date. Again, be sure to use double-spaced text.
· Double space again and center the title. Don't underline your title or put it in quotation marks; write the title in Title Case, not in all capital letters.
· Use quotation marks and underlining or italics when referring to other works in your title, just as you would in your text, e.g.,
o Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas as Morality Play
o Human Weariness in "After Apple Picking"
· Double space between the title and the first line of the text.
· Create a header in the upper right-hand corner that includes your last name, followed by a space with a page number; number all pages consecutively with Arabic numerals (1, 2, 3, 4, etc.), one-half inch from the top and flush with the right margin. (Note: Your instructor or other readers may ask that you omit last name/page number header on your first page. Always follow their guidelines.)
Here is a sample first page of an essay in MLA style:
Image Caption: A sample first page of an MLA-formatted paper.
Works Cited Page Books
First or single author's name is written last name, first name. The basic form for a book citation is:
Lastname, Firstname. Title of Book. Place of Publication: Publisher, Year of Publication.
Anthology or Collection
List by editor or editors, follwed by a comma and "ed." or, for mulitple editors, "eds."
Hill, Charles A. and Marguerite Helmers, eds. Defining Visual Rhetorics. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 2004.
Peterson, Nancy J., ed. Toni Morrison: Critical and Theoretical Approaches. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins UP, 1997.
A Multivolume Work
When citing only one volume of a multivolume work, include the volume number after the work's title, or after the work's editor or translator.
Quintilian. Institutio Oratoria. Trans. H. E. Butler. Vol. 2. Cambridge: Loeb-Harvard UP, 1980.
An Entire Web Site
Basic format:
Name of Site. Date of Posting/Revision. Name of institution/organization affiliated with the site (sometimes found in copyright statements). Date you accessed the site <electronic address>.
A Page on a Web Site
For an individual page on a Web site, list the author or alias if known, followed by the information covered above for entire Web sites. Make sure the URL points to the exact page you are referring to, or the entry or home page for a collection of pages you're referring to:
"Caret." Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia. 28 April 2006. 10 May 2006 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caret>.
"How to Make Vegetarian Chili." eHow.com. 10 May 2006 <http://www.ehow.com/
how_10727_make-vegetarian-chili.html>.
Stolley, Karl. "MLA Formatting and Style Guide." The OWL at Purdue. 10 May 2006. Purdue University Writing Lab. 12 May 2006 <http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/557/01/>.